Part of the ad in question. Credit: DDP
Identifying Does is hard enough. The DNA Doe Project certainly doesn’t need pushback from the world’s largest social media corporation. Yet, that’s exactly the situation the non-profit has found themselves in this week.
The DNA Doe Project (DDP) has had an official non-profit page on Facebook since 2019. They use it in a myriad of ways—always with the end goal of bringing attention to a specific John/Jane Doe case.
If you follow DNA Doe Project’s Facebook page, you’ve probably seen their graphic featuring a sketch of the Doe in the foreground with the words “Do You Recognize Me?” in red.
“It’s a post for a case that needs some public attention to help us solve it,” explained Pam Lauritzen, Executive Director of Media and Communications at the DNA Doe Project. “We’ve done this type of boost [ad] dozens of times without issue.”
This time, however, there was an issue.
Lauritzen was attempting to “boost” the post to gain visibility in Central Florida where the Doe—called Julie Doe for now—likely lived for a number of years, as well as four counties in Kentucky where DDP sees clusters of DNA relative matches.
Although this is the exact same type of audience targeting used for dozens of other cases previously, this ad was rejected 15 times over the past two weeks.
Working with the Meta Pro Support team on Tuesday, October 8, Lauritzen was told to recreate the ad and try again. She did. It was rejected 5 times yesterday alone.
Eventually, Lauritzen says, the Meta Pro Support team came to the same conclusion she did—the ad is being rejected because it features a transgender woman.
During the brief time that the original ad ran, Lauritzen hid, deleted and reported a number of hateful anti-trans comments. That, however, did not stop anti-trans people from reporting the ad as spam, claiming it had a deceptive link—which is not true.
“Instead of taking action against these users who are in violation of Facebook’s community standards, Meta has instead decided to honor their wishes by refusing to run the ad,” said Lauritzen.
Once they figured out the “issue,” the Meta Pro Support team recommended Lauritzen change the post to avoid mention of Julie being transgender, and boost the post into areas of the U.S. that are more trans-friendly.
“That is not acceptable, and I will not strip Julie of what’s left of her identity in order to placate people who don’t want to know she existed,” said Lauritzen. “Julie Doe was marginalized and eventually murdered—dying without her name. I will not give Meta a pass for their abhorrent behavior. No matter how many times the ad is rejected or thwarted, I will not stop advocating for Julie, and I will continue to push to get her story into the public view.”
Late Tuesday night, Lauritzen received a message that the ad—without any changes—was finally approved to run. That was followed by a message from Meta stating that DNA Doe Project’s account is now restricted from advertising because it was “created or used with an automation.”
So the ad can now run—but it can’t…
Julie Doe’s case background
On Sept. 25, 1988, a passerby looking for cypress wood to build lawn furniture discovered the body of Julie Doe in a wooded area in the vicinity of Highway 474 near Orlando, Florida. It appeared that the body had been dragged from the roadside to the location it was found. The victim’s pantyhose and skirt had been rolled down, indicating a possible sexual assault.
Julie was white, age 22-35, about 5’10, 170 pounds, with naturally brown hair. At the time of her death, she was wearing a blue-green tank top, a Manisha long acid-washed denim skirt, and panty hose.
The autopsy conducted in 1988 revealed she had a previously fractured cheekbone and a broken nose. She also had a healed rib fracture. The autopsy incorrectly concluded that she was a cisgender woman who had given birth to at least one child. When the remains were tested again, DNA revealed that the decedent had an XY genotype and was a transgender woman who had gender reassignment surgery, which was uncommon for the era. She had breast implants that dated no later than 1984 and the surgery was most likely performed in either Miami, Atlanta, New Orleans, New York City, or California. Julie also had a rhinoplasty and had likely been on hormone therapy for several years before her death.
Julie was likely born in the late 1950s or early 1960s. DNA Doe Project has determined that Julie Doe’s DNA ancestors have ties to central Kentucky, specifically including Madison, Fayette, Garrard, and Mercer Counties. However, isotope testing suggests that Julie Doe spent most of her life in the Florida area.
There is a possibility that Julie Doe was not raised by her biological family. Please contact [email protected] if you have any information about Julie’s identity.